The woman boarded the minibus with another tourist in the Copacabana beach district in Rio de Janeiro early Saturday. Three men subsequently boarded the minibus and forced off all the other passengers, police said.

The woman was raped, and the other tourist, a man, was held captive and robbed, authorities said.

Their credit cards were used at multiple locations inside and outside of Rio de Janeiro over a span of hours, the police said in a statement.

According to Brazilian newspapers, the man was handcuffed and beaten, while the woman was repeatedly raped. The two were dumped in Itaborai, a city more than 30 miles (about 50 kilometers) away, after six hours, O Globo newspaper said.

Earlier, police arrested two men, both in their early 20s. They are Jonathan Foudakis de Souza and Wallace Aparecido Souza Silva.

The U.S. Consulate is in contact with the victim and is providing all appropriate consular assistance, said a State Department official, who did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to talk about the case

The rape highlights security concerns in the Brazilian city that will host matches in the 2014 World Cup and will put on the Summer Olympics two years later. '

As more women come forward saying they were victims of similar attacks, Rio de Janeiro's Civil Police Chief Martha Rocha issued a written apology. She also fired two police officers responsible for handling rape cases.

Rio has gone a long way toward cleaning up its image as one of Latin America's most violent cities. But Brazilian media already are drawing parallels between this attack and the infamous gang rape of a young woman on a bus in India.